Chairman Emeritus, Carlyle Group Joins Three Former CEOs
COLUMBIA, S.C., July 18 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Collexis Holdings, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: CLXS), a leading developer of knowledge discovery software, announced today the appointment of four former CEOs to its board of directors. The additions are Frank C. Carlucci, Carlyle Group Chairman Emeritus and former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Mark Auerbach, former Executive Chairman of the Board of Par Pharmaceutical Companies, Inc., John D. Macomber, former Chairman and CEO of Celanese Corporation and John Regazzi, former CEO of Elsevier Inc. The new board will take the initiative in advising this international technologically-driven company. These new board members join incumbents Mark S. Germain (Chairman), Bill Kirkland and Peter Van Praag.
Bill Kirkland, Collexis CEO, said, "There is no better group of executives to advise and assist me in implementing our positioning strategy for our business's explosive growth. They are proven leaders in government; pharmaceuticals; scientific, technical and medical publishing; and the financial, healthcare and IT industries. This knowledgeable leadership will help Collexis increase our presence in the academic and government market sectors and expand further into the corporate market."
Newly Appointed Members of the Board of Directors
Frank C. Carlucci -- Chairman Emeritus, The Carlyle Group, Washington, DC. Mr. Carlucci was U.S. Secretary of Defense from November 1987 through January 1989, following his service as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs under President Reagan. Before serving in these positions, Mr. Carlucci was Chairman and CEO of Sears World Trade, a business he joined in 1983. Mr. Carlucci preceded his affiliation with Sears World Trade, Inc. with a career in government service, which included Deputy Secretary of Defense (1980-82), Deputy Director of Central Intelligence (1978-80), U.S. Ambassador to Portugal (1975-78), Under Secretary of Health Education and Welfare (1973-75), Deputy Director of OMB (1970-72), and Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (1969). Mr. Carlucci was a Foreign Service Officer from 1956 to 1980 and he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1952 to 1954.
Mark Auerbach -- Mr. Auerbach is currently a director on the board of Optimer Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company with a portfolio of late-stage anti-infective products and Chairman of the Board for Neuro Hitech. He is the former Executive Chairman of the Board of Par Pharmaceutical Companies, Inc., a manufacturer and marketer of generic and branded pharmaceuticals. From 1993 through November 2005, he was CFO of Central Lewmar, a fine paper distributor. A Certified Public Accountant, Mr. Auerbach has been a board member of several small cap companies over the last twenty years.
John D. Macomber -- Mr. Macomber is currently a director of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and AEA Investors LLC. Since 1992 he has been a Principal of the JDM Investment Group. He was Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States from 1989 to 1992. Before that, Mr. Macomber was Chairman and CEO of Celanese Corporation (1973 to 1986). From 1954 to 1973 he was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Co. He also held director positions at numerous companies including Bristol-Myers Squibb, The Brown Group, Inc., Celgene Corporation, Chase Manhattan Bank, Florida Power & Light, Rand McNally, RJR Nabisco, Pilkington Ltd., Textron Inc. and Xerox Corporation. Mr. Macomber is also Chairman of the Council for Excellence in Government, Vice Chairman of The Atlantic Council of the United States, a Trustee of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and The Folger Library and director of the Smithsonian National Board. Former non-profit directorships include the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the New York Philharmonic and the New York Zoological Society.
John Regazzi -- A pioneer in the electronic information industry, Dr. Regazzi served as Vice President of The H. W. Wilson Company from 1983-1988, leaving to become President and CEO of Engineering Information, Inc. (Ei). In 1998, he led the integration of Ei into Elsevier, a world leading scientific, technical and medical publisher and was subsequently appointed CEO of Elsevier Inc. He has served on the Boards of Directors of Elsevier, NFAIS and the Division of Scholarly Communications of the American Association of Publishers. Dr. Regazzi is currently on the Boards of the British Standards Institute, Ei Foundation and CABI. In July 2005, Regazzi was appointed to his current position of Dean, College of Information and Computer Science and Dean, Palmer School of Library and Information Science at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. He is also a tenured professor in the departments of Computer Science as well as Library and Information Science.
Incumbent Board Members
Mark S. Germain -- Mr. Germain is the Managing Director of The Olmsted Group, LLC, a merchant bank primarily serving the biotech and life sciences industries. He has been involved as a founder, director, chairman, and/or investor in over twenty companies in the biotech field where he assisted in arranging corporate partnerships, mergers and acquisitions and acquiring technology.
Bill Kirkland -- CEO Bill Kirkland brings twenty years of experience in managerial and executive assignments throughout Pfizer and IBM to Collexis. He managed multiple sales, business unit, operational, and product marketing teams. He serves on the boards of several industry organizations and groups throughout the United States.
Peter Van Praag -- Mr. Van Praag has been responsible for complex IT development and implementation projects, primarily in the health care sector. He founded the software house VPI, which developed specialized applications for the healthcare industry, making it a market leader in The Netherlands. Mr. Van Praag is a co-founder of Collexis BV (precursor to Collexis Holdings, Inc.) and serves as the CEO of Collexis Europe. He also focuses on company acquisitions.
Collexis Holdings, Inc.
Collexis Holdings, Inc., a global knowledge discovery company since 1999, is headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina (USA) with two subsidiaries; Collexis Inc. in Columbia, South Carolina, USA and Collexis, B.V. in Geldermalsen, The Netherlands. Collexis patented technology builds conceptual profiles of text, called Fingerprints, from documents, websites, e-mails and other digitized content to create applications. The results are often described as "finding needles in many haystacks." Through this novel approach, Collexis can build unique applications to search, index and aggregate information as well as prioritize, trend and predict data based on sources in multiple fields, without the limitations of language or dialect. The company's mission is to develop software supporting knowledge retrieval and discovery across multiple industries. Collexis shares of common stock are traded under the symbol CLXS on the OTC Bulletin Board (OTC BB). For more information visit www.collexis.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements are valid only as of today, and we disclaim any obligation to update this information. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual future experience and results to differ materially from the statements made. These statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations as to future outcomes. Factors that could affect future performance include business and economic trends, the ability to continue funding operating losses, fluctuations in operating results, continued success in developing our research software and other risk factors as disclosed in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
